Elder Abuse - A Scandal We All Need To Address
World Elder Abuse Day is this Sunday, 15th June, and local Euro-MP Liz Lynne is calling for renewed action to expose the scandal of elder abuse and for reform of current UK human rights legislation to ensure protection from abuse for all older people receiving care.
Leading Age Charities estimate that over 10% of older people across the European Union have experienced some form of serious age-related abuse, whether this is physical, psychological or financial. In 80% of cases the abuser is known to the victim.
Despite the Government working to close a legal loophole which left local authority-referred patients in private nursing homes unprotected under the 1998 Human Rights Act, older people who fund their own residential care will still not be covered by the act.
Liz Lynne, who is Co-Chair of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Ageing and sits on the Human Rights Subcommittee, said:
"Elder abuse is a major, yet often unrecognised, problem across the EU. As many as 10 percent of people aged 60 and older will be likely to experience some form of abuse before they die whether in personal homes, residential and nursing homes, hospitals, and day centres. This is, quite simply, a violation of basic human rights and it happens every single day."
"The fact that those who fund their own care are still not fully covered by UK human rights legislation which could offer legal protection from abuse is an appalling scandal which the Government has failed to address. This loophole means that some older people in care in the UK have less legal protection from abuse than any other EU country.
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